Ecommerce giant Alibaba has announced an exclusive membership package for sellers in Germany. It wants to support SME’s in their digitalization efforts. Starting in September, retailers can join the platform with a trial period of 3 months for 9 dollars, instead of 399 dollars.
The online B2B platform announced this at a flagship event in Berlin this week. The company had surveyed 1,008 German SME’s about the challenges they face. The majority (88 percent) of them said that digitalization is a key element for success, but only 41 percent are fully digital.
Only 11% of the surveyed SME’s have implemented AI in their business so far
Many SME’s fear that digitalization comes with high costs. Additionally, 96 percent of those surveyed think that AI will have an impact on their exports. However, only 11 percent have implemented it so far.
New solutions
That is why Alibaba has decided to launch a package of new solutions for sellers in Germany. A part of this is the revision of its membership model starting in September. Sellers can get started on the online marketplace with a trial period of 3 months, for 8.40 euros (9 dollars). This is a big difference from the standard 372.61 euros (399 dollars).
‘Alibaba is also launching AI-powered tools for sellers’
The platform is also launching AI-powered tools, like AI-generated product listings, a chat bot and automatic analyses of category-relevant data. These updates will make it easier for sellers to make strategic decisions, as well as communicate with potential buyers.
‘Digital transformation influences all sectors’
“Digital transformation has been influencing all sectors in Germany for some time now and it feels like it is being rapidly overtaken by AI innovations. Today we want to make it clear that there are concrete and applicable solutions to help SMEs in particular use digital and AI-supported tools to open up new markets and partners around the world”, said Karl Wehner, managing director at Alibaba DACH.
“However, it also requires a systemic effort in which companies, politicians and representative associations work together to remove obstacles and strengthen competencies and skills so that the current and future opportunities of digitalization can be exploited.”
